Financial Services

What happens when pesky, disruptive upstarts take on the big incumbents in an industry? More often than not, they find themselves in a battle royale over market share. And that’s just what’s happening in the wealth management industry, where Westpac is fighting back against the likes of Netwealth, HUB24 and Praemium. continue…

by Andreas Lundberg Posted in Companies, Financial Services.

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Westpac (ASX:WBC) has just announced that, come the end of July, it will stop lending to self-managed super funds (SMSFs) looking to invest in property. It will also not allow SMSFs to roll any existing interest only loans onto another interest only period once the existing amortisation free period runs out. What’s prompted this change? continue…

by Andreas Lundberg Posted in Editor's Pick, Financial Services.

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It’s hard to ignore the inroads being made by robo advice firms in the wealth management industry. Now, robo advisers could receive a further boost on the back of the upcoming open banking regime. continue…

by Dean Curnow Posted in Financial Services.

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Although interest rates remain at historically low levels, we’ve seen a continuing increase in mortgage stress over the past two years. Today, over 30 per cent of owner-occupier borrowing households across Australia are in mortgage stress. And things could get even worse if the major banks raise their rates. continue…

by Andreas Lundberg Posted in Financial Services.

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While you may not follow movements in the bank bill swap rate (BBSW), right now they are worth paying attention to. You see, rates are on the rise. And that means the funding costs for our major banks are also going up. This could force them to raise mortgage rates – and take mortgage stress to another level. continue…

by Stuart Jackson Posted in Financial Services.

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In this week’s video insight Stuart discusses why the banks are selling or demerging lower return overseas operations and insurance operations.

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by Stuart Jackson Posted in Financial Services, Video Insights.

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Since peaking in March 2015, the share prices of our major banks have been plummeting. I fear there is more bad news ahead with the markets beginning to catch up with factors that will limit the banks’ ability to grow their mortgage books as quickly as they have in recent years. continue…

by Roger Montgomery Posted in Financial Services.

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Forget the Royal Commission. An even greater threat to Aussie banks lies just over the horizon in the form of new high-tech competitors that can price financial products at levels that our banks find impossible to match. continue…

by Stuart Jackson Posted in Financial Services.

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The statistical release of APRA and the RBA’s credit growth data for April shows a stabilisation in the rate of overall mortgage, personal and business loan book growth at 5 per cent across the overall Australian market. By category, mortgage book growth continued to slow, increasing 6 per cent year over year, while business loan book growth improved a little to 4.4 per cent. continue…

by Stuart Jackson Posted in Financial Services.

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In the midst of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in Financial Services, the major banks have released their latest half yearly results. The market headed into the reporting period with a high degree of apprehension given the public backlash emanating from the revelations coming from testimony at the Royal Commission to date. continue…

by Stuart Jackson Posted in Companies, Financial Services.

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